Dual boresight knob mechanism



SEARCH 5mm June 5, 1962 J. GLATZ ETAL 3,037,287

DUAL BORESIGHT KNOB MECHANISM Filed July 12, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.I.

INVENTORS JOSEPH L. GLATZ FELIX A. CICHOWSK! BY 0.4% ii? I xrronnevs:

June 5, 1962 Filed July 12, 1960 J. L. GLATZ ETAL DUAL BORESIGHT KNOB MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS JOSEPH L. GLATZ FELIX A.CICHOWSK| BY ifl AT TORNEYS United States Patent 3,037,287 DUAL BORESIGHT KNOB MECHANISM Joseph L. Glatz, Pennsauken, N.J., and Felix A. Cichowski, Bristol, Pa., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed July 12, 1960, Ser. No. 42,449 7 Claims. (Cl. 33-46) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) four mechanisms have been provided, two for adjusting the reticles in elevation and two for adjusting them in azimuth. It is found that this multiplicity of reticle adjusting mechanisms unduly increases the bulk and weight of the boresighting apparatus and can lead to confusion in its operation. The present invention avoids these difliculties by reducing the required number of reticle adjusting mechanisms to two, one for adjusting the reticles in elevation and the other for adjusting the reticles in azimuth.

The invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings and its scope is indicated by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 comprises a sectional view of the improved reticle adjusting mechanism and shows the relation of this mechanism to the reticles which are adjusted by it,

FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing certain details of the reticle support, and

FIG. 3 is an exterior view of the mechanism.

The mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 3 includes a knob 10 which is rotated to move a reticle 11 and a knob 12 which is rotated to move a reticle 13. The image of the target is transmitted in a conventional manner to a mirror 14 as indicated by an arrow '15 and is reflected from the mirror '14 through the reticles 11 and 13 to the point (not shown) where it is observed by the operator of the mechanism. The reticles 11 and 13 bear data pertinent to the sighting of dilferent types of weapons. For example, the data on reticle 11 may be pertinent to the sighting of a machine gun and that on reticle 13 may be pertinent to the sighting of a flame thrower. The spacing between the reticles 11 and 13 is made of the order of .002 to .004 inch in order to avoid excessive optical parallex in reference to the received image.

The reticles 11 and 13 are supported in a manner similar to that disclosed by United States Patent 2,537,917. This type of support permits movement of the reticle in two directions which are perpendicular to one another. As indicated by FIG. 2, it includes a floating frame member '17 which is connected to a support 18 by springs 19 and 20 and is connected to the reticle 13 by springs 21 and 22. This support is not an essential element of the present invention and is therefore not described in detail.

The knob 10 (FIG. 1) which is rotated to control the elevation of the reticle 11 has clutch teeth 10 and an internal gear 23 which meshes with a pinion 24. The pinion 24 meshes with an external gear 25 on an adapter 26 which has a suitable internal thread 27 extending over about one half its length and is rotatable in the fixed housing 28 of the mechanism. A member 29 has a suitable external thread 30' which engages with the thread 27, extends through a fiat sided opening in the housing 28 and has at its outer end a tang 31 which is in contact with reticle 11.

With this arrangement, rotation of the knob 10 operates through gears 23, 24 and 25 and threads 27 and 30 to move the reticle 11 in one direction when the knob is rotated in a clockwise direction and to move the reticle in the opposite direction when the knob is rotated in a counter clockwise direction.

A clutch member 32 is fixed to the housing 28, has teeth 32' engaging similar teeth 10' on knob '10, and has extending inwardly from it a pin 33. Between the member 32 and the knob 10 is a stop 34 which is rotatable by a pin 35 in the knob .10 and is arranged to engage the pin 33 at a certain point in its rotation. This arrangement provides a feature for controlling the total limits of the reticle 1'1 movement as may be required.

For indicating the position of the reticle 11, a scale 36 on the periphery of the knob 10 is arranged to cooperate with an indicating mark 37 on the clutch member 32. (FIG. 3)

Between a second clutch member 38, fixed to the housing 28, and the knob 10 are three cantilever springs 39. In operation, the knob is pulled against the tension of these springs, is turned to the desired indication and is released allowing its teeth 10 to engage the teeth 32 of the member 32 thereby locking it in its actuated position.

The part of the mechanism for moving the reticle "13 is similar to that utilized to move the reticle 11. It includes an adapter 40 which has a suitable internal thread (not shown) at 41, is attached to the knob 12 by splines 12', and extends through the clutch member 38 which is similar to the clutch member 32. The knob 12 is ret ained by a screw 42 and biased against the clutch member 38 by a spring 43. A solid rod 44 has a suitable thread 45 engaged with the thread at 41 of the adapter 40, extends through a flat sided hole in the member 29 and has at its outer end a tang 46 which is in contact with reticle 13. Between the member 38 and the knob 12 is a rotatable stop member 47 which cooperates with pins 48 and 49 to limit movement of the knob 12 as described in connection with the knob :10. Like the knob 10, the knob 12 bears a scale 50 arranged to cooperate with a mark 51 on member 38 (FIG. 3) for indicating the position of the reticle 13 and is fixed in its adjusted position by the intermeshing teeth on the clutch member 38 and the knob 12.

As indicated by the seal rings 52, 53 and 54 between the various parts, the unit is sealed to maintain any pressure that may be induced in the instrument. Obviously a second and similar mechanism may be mounted at an angle of with that described above to move the reticles in a transverse direction. Outstanding features of the invention are 1) the reduction in bulk attained by combining the two mechanisms into a single unit, (2) the ease of operation resulting from the proximity of the control knobs.

We claim:

1. In a device for independently moving spaced-apart reticles, the combination therewith of a unitary structure including a housing having a flat-sided opening and enclosing a pair of similar and coaxial mechanisms, each of said mechanisms including a non-rotatable member extending through said opening and in contact with a different one of said reticles, an adapter threaded to said non-rotatable member, and a control knob coupled to said adapter to rotate said adapter and produce axial movement of said non-rotatable member.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the spacing between said reticles is of the order of .002 to .004 inch.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein said mechanisms each include a toothed clutch member fixed to said housing, and the control knobs of said mechanisms each have diametrical teeth resiliently biased into engagement with the teeth of a different one of said clutch members.

4. A device according to claim 1 wherein the nonrotatable member of one of said mechanisms has a longitudinal flat-sided opening and the non-rotatable member of the other of said mechanisms extends through said longitudinal opening.

5. A device according to claim 3 wherein said clutch members each include an indicating mark and each of said knobs bears a scale adapted to cooperate with said mark for indicating the positions of said reticle.

6. A device according to claim 1 wherein means are provided to limit the rotation of said knobs to suit specific requirements.

4 7. A device according to claim 1 wherein one of said knobs is directly coupled to the corresponding adapter and the other of said knobs is coupled to the corresponding adapter through an internal gear, a pinion and an external gear.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,314,428 Pollen et al Aug. 26, 1919 2,403,285 Jackman July 2, 1946 2,545,782 Hugin Mar. 20, 1951 2,583,042 Dayton Jan. 22, 1952 2,780,941 Kollmorgen Feb. 12, 1957 2,829,439 Cunningham Apr. 8, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 708,438 Great Britain May 5, 1954 

